Celestial Bound
by Fluorescent Marquee
Summary: Tohru Honda has opened the hearts of the members of the zodiac. Can a new girl, one who seems to know everything about the Sohma's curse, set them free?
1. Mizuki?

Mizuki?

**Okay, so here it is! This is my first fan fiction. The first chapter is a bit boring, so read on and it will get better. I'll be posting a few chapters at a time, just because I'm weird like that.**

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own Fruits Basket.**

**Have fun reading!**

**Kyo's POV**

"What the hell is Momiji doing here?" I yelled.

"Hatsuharu-san wanted to have dinner with us today and Momiji-kun decided he wanted to also. I made leek soup for all of us," Tohru replied.

"So not only do I have to put up with that damn rabbit, I have to eat the most disgusting food ever? Are you trying to kill me?" I growled, annoyed that the two members of the zodiac had cut into my limited free time with Tohru- Yuki was at a late student council meeting and Shigure was having dinner with Ayame.

"Oh, I forgot, you don't like leeks! I'm so sorry! I'll make something else right away! What would you like?" She looked flustered.

"Salmon or something." I watched her search the kitchen for the fish. "Oh, whatever, just put a lot of seasoning into the leeks so they won't taste so bad."

"'Kay," she said, smiling. Honestly, the way she smiled, you'd think she won the lottery or something.

I walked back into the living room. Why were they here anyway? Momiji came over often enough for no reason, but Haru usually stayed at the main house, and Tohru had said that he was the one who had wanted to come over in the first place.

"So why'd you decide have dinner here?" I asked him.

"Cuz we wanted to eat Tohru's cooking! Duh!" Momiji replied.

"Shut up, you damn rabbit! I didn't ask you!" I punched him in the head.

"I'll tell you after dinner," Haru said, amidst cries of "Waaaah! Kyo's picking on me!"

"Dinner's ready!" Tohru exclaimed. We walked to the dining room where she had poured the soup into four bowls.

"It's good!" Momiji said, nodding his approval. "Try it Kyo! C'mon, it's good!"

"No. I hate leeks."

"Kyo, you're so mean! Tohru made all this for you and you won't even try it?" Momiji's voice grated against my nerves.

"Fine. I'll try it. But when I do, you better shut up, you damn rabbit!" I put the spoon up to my mouth. _Hmm, not as bad as I thought_. "It's okay. Better than I thought it would be." Momiji turned back to his own plate, clearly smug that he had been right. Haru continued to read one of Shigure's novels, just as he had been since the beginning of the dinner.

"Hey Tohru! Where are Yuki and Shigure?" Momiji asked.

"Yuki-kun had to go to a student council meeting and Shigure-san is having dinner with Ayame-san."

"How come Aaya didn't invite you and Yuki?" Momiji asked Tohru.

"He did, but when Yuki couldn't come because of the meeting and Kyo and Yuki said I wasn't allowed to go."

"Bit overprotective, aren't we, Kyo?" Haru spoke up, smirking, for the first time during the dinner.

"Shut up, it wasn't like that. Would you have left her alone with Ayame and Shigure at night?" I retorted.

"Good point." Haru sipped his tea. "You'd have been crazy to let that happen."

"No kidding, I practically had to drag them away from her."

"Why, Kyo? Is it cuz you want her all to yourself?" Momiji asked slyly.

"Shut up, you damn rabbit! You're pissing me off!" I raised my fist, ready to punch the little brat in the face-

"Kyo, are you done with dinner?" Tohru asked innocently, oblivious to Momiji's comment and the embarrassment it had caused me.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." It was best not to get in fights with Tohru around anyway. I stood up to leave.

"Oh, I'm done too." Haru handed Tohru his plate. Once we were both out of the dining room, he said, "Kyo. I have to tell you something."

"What? You better not be wasting my time."

"I'm definitely not. And I don't want Tohru or Momiji to hear either."

_Huh? Why?_ "Fine, come up to my room." This was weird. Why did Haru want to talk to me privately? He looked agitated but said nothing until I closed the door.

"I think she came back." He said slowly.

"Who?" I was getting annoyed with his secretive attitude.

"Mizuki."

…

**Hatsuharu's POV**

I could tell he was shocked. It would have been odd for him not to be. We had both known that once she accepted, she would be gone, and we would never see her again. Even though Kyo had never felt the way I did about her, he and Mizuki had been as close as brother and sister, and he had known as well as I had that when it came down to it, she would do what she knew was the right thing, even if it meant leaving us all behind. I had missed her so much… If Kyo had told me she was back, I would have thought it was a joke.

"You're kidding, right? You and I both know that she accepted. She's gone for good." Kyo was disbelieving. I knew that he didn't want to get his hopes up. It had been almost a year since we had last seen her, and forgetting about her would have been a blessing.

"I'm not sure. She looked different. She's taller now and her hair is really long. It's also a weird color, like white, with the bottom half black. But her face looks the same." It was weird, seeing her like that, without the short red hair and green eyes she used to have.

"You must have mistaken someone else for her. You know she loved her hair. She'd never dye it or even grow it out. And besides, if she could have come back, why wouldn't she have come sooner?"

"I don't know! It may not have been her. I didn't get a good look at her. But I do know that Momiji ran into her so hard that they both fell over. He should have transformed. But he didn't." For some reason, when a member of the zodiac hugged Mizuki, she didn't transform.

Kyo looked like he was struggling for a retort. "Maybe it was just Rin with her hair dyed or something. You could have easily mistaken her for Mizuki."

_What the hell? Why was he bringing Rin into this? That baka neko knew nothing about Rin and me. And why was the bastard comparing Mizuki to Rin anyway? They were nothing alike; Kyo knew that. _I felt Black Haru taking over. "I know what Rin looks like, and it wasn't her, you idiot. Are you trying to piss me off? I said it was Mizuki and I mean it. Believe me or not, I don't fucking care. I don't even know why I'm telling you. You probably don't even care that she's back."

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "Shut up! Just 'cause you went black doesn't mean you can call me an idiot, asshole. Why the hell are you so annoyed anyway? All I did was suggest you might be wrong!"

_Why _was_ I so annoyed?_ My temper cooled. _He was just being the stupid cat. He hadn't meant anything by the remark._ "Sorry." I heard a knock on the door and opened it. Tohru and Momiji stood outside the room, looking worried.

"We heard yelling. Did you guys have a fight? Momiji asked.

"Uh, no. I went black for a second but I snapped out of it."

"Oh, that's good." Tohru said. Seeing my confused look, she gasped. "Oh, no! I didn't mean that it was good that you went black! I just meant that it was good that you snapped out of it and that the two of you didn't fight! Oh, but I'm sorry it came out wrong and it sounded like I was happy that you two were yelling! Gomen nasai! I'm such an idiot!"

"Whoa, cool down. You sound like Ritsu. There's no need to apologize." I smiled. _She really does remind me of Ritsu._ She had so many weird little habits- apologizing, being polite to the point of hilarity, smiling at the tiniest things, and having such modesty over her appearance that I wasn't sure what she saw when she looked in a mirror.

Not that Yuki or Kyo ever seemed to mind. Though I wasn't about to take sides, I didn't want to get in their way-especially Kyo's. I smirked to myself_. No wonder he had been so apprehensive about Momiji and me coming to dinner. With Shigure and Yuki out of the house… _"Well, Momiji and I should probably go back to Sohma house. We wouldn't want to cut in on you two's alone time, now would we?" Predictably, this was followed by a furious "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" from Kyo and a flustered "Eh?" from Tohru.

"But Haru, I wanted to tell Tohru about the new girl in our class! You didn't get to see her because you were bad and skipped school. You shouldn't do that so often. When you miss school, you miss out." Momiji repeated the annoying saying from our elementary school.

"Fine, we can stay a little longer. But the only reason I missed school was that I woke up in a bad mood this morning and I didn't want to go black in class and beat some random person up." I didn't like lying to Momiji, but I knew he and Tohru would worry if I told them the real reason I missed school. Besides, Akito had warned me not to tell anyone about our meeting.

"Well, Tohru, there's a new girl in me and Haru's class! She's really pretty, as pretty as Yuki, but her hair is two different colors! It's white on the top half and black on the bottom half, like Haru!" _Was he talking about Mizuki?_ If that were this new girl's name, Kyo wouldn't be able to keep denying that she was back.

"So, what's her name?" I said, stealing a glance at Kyo, who was obviously pretending to ignore the rabbit.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought I said that already. Her name's Mizuki. And guess what? I ran into her when we were going to lunch! But I didn't turn into a bunny! Isn't that weird?" So it was her. Though it may just have been a coincidence, Kyo would at least have to acknowledge that there was a person outside the Sohma family that didn't make members of the zodiac transform when they hugged her.

"Really? And she isn't a member of the zodiac?" Tohru asked. Momiji shook his head. "That is weird. Did you talk to her at all?"

"Guess you were right, Haru. She really might be back." Kyo said to me quietly.

"Yeah, I talked to her a little bit! After I bumped into her, she asked me if I was a Sohma, and I said yes, and then, she asked me if I was a member of the zodiac! I asked her if she already knew about the curse and she said yes. So since she already knew about it, I told her that I _was_ in the zodiac and how did she know? She just said she had her ways." Seeing Kyo fuming, he said, "Don't worry Kyo. No one heard us talking because there was no one else around.

"And another thing: later, when we were getting out of school, I ran into her really hard again, on purpose, to see if I would transform this time." Ignoring the cries of "Idiot! What if you had transformed?" from Kyo, he went on. "I didn't transform! And when I apologized for knocking her down, she just said 'That's okay, little bunny!' and went off! She knew I was the bunny!"

"That's amazing! How did she know?" Tohru asked, fascinated.

"Momiji. There are bunnies all over your jacket, and one on your shorts. It's obvious how she knew." I interjected.

"Oh yeah, you're right! But she's still really interesting. I think I'm going to try to tall to her some more tomorrow."

"Maybe I will too." I would go to school tomorrow and talk to her. It would be simple to find out if it was the Mizuki that Kyo and I had known.

**You might have noticed that I switched around the Point of View. I'll be doing that in some later chapters, but mostly I'll keep it the same throughout the whole chapter. Tell me if it's confusing!**

**Just to clear things up, things in italics are direct thoughts of the characters, and places where I, the author, say something are in bold.**

**Like I said earlier, this chapter is kind of boring, but I promise the next one is better, so at least read one more chapter before deciding whether to go on or not.**

**I would appreciate reviews, even constructive criticism (no flames though), but I'll continue to post chapters even if there aren't any.**


	2. Yuki's Fans

Yuki's Fans

**Okay, so here's chapter two!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction, now would I?**

**Mizuki's POV**

_Hmm… What should I wear today?_ I pulled on a thin midnight blue V-neck long-sleeved shirt and a pair of white shorts and looked at myself in the full-length mirror on the closet door. The shorts, I had to admit, were a little _too _short, but still, they were the same length as the miniskirts in the ridiculous school uniform. _Well, I may as well go all out until someone tells me to put on a uniform, but I doubt anyone will complain. After all, boys will be boys!_

I sighed. Sometimes it was hard to get used to all the attention, especially since I hadn't been around normal people in a normal setting for such a long time. Anyway, I had more important things on my mind: today, I would ask that boy who had bumped into me yesterday if he knew of a Kyo Sohma. I hadn't caught his name, but with that bouncy attitude, golden hair, and girl's uniform, he'd be hard to miss.

I smiled to myself. Though he was obviously a Sohma, and even cursed by the zodiac, he was a far cry from the other three Sohmas I had met. I couldn't imagine him having a temper even close to Kyo's, Kisa's quiet, shy, attitude was nothing like his joyful, outgoing demeanor, and the blond boy and Hatsuharu seemed so different that it was hard to believe they were related.

That's odd. Why was I thinking about him so much? That golden hair, that bright genuine smile… I guess it just reminded me of better days, days spent with a person I loved, without a care in the world. I touched the bracelet, with the little charm that had meant so much to me. But now those days were gone…

I slapped my cheeks. _It's too early in the morning to be reminiscing and feeling sorry for yourself, Mizuki! You have to get ready for school! _Anyway, the reason I had come here was to meet Kyo and Hatsuharu and the others, not to compare complete strangers to old friends.

I started curling my hair in order to make the change between black and white less obvious. I liked the color as much as the short red hair I once had, but it was bound to classify me as a rule-breaker to whoever was in charge. Besides, if I left it as long and wavy as it was naturally, the white would look more like the icy silver it was, and the strange luminescence would definitely raise some questions, which was the last thing I needed. I pulled my hair into a high ponytail that reached to my lower back.

For the final touch, I dabbed on the barest hint of gold eye shadow and donned the shimmering mother-of-pearl crescent moon earrings I had gotten for my birthday and looked in the mirror once more. _Not bad. _I grabbed my bag and headed out the door to hail a taxi. My one mistake? I forgot to check the clock.

…

_Damn. _Since I needed less sleep these days, I had gotten up early, left the hotel I was staying in early, and gotten to the school 45 minutes early. I had considered taking a taxi back to the hotel, but decided that it would just be a waste of time. Luckily, the school was open for some meeting, so I could sit in my homeroom class instead of outside, but I had nothing to do until the blond Sohma boy arrived so I could ask him about Kyo and Haru. But I wasn't the type to just sit around and wait for things to happen. I decided to walk around the school and ask anyone I ran into if they knew about the Sohmas.

I heard voices coming from a classroom in a hall to my left. Not knowing what to expect, I waited and listened to the voices to figure out what they were doing. A single voice issued a command.

"Repeat: Do not touch the Prince's belongings." I looked inside. An unfamiliar girl stood in front of a chalkboard and pointed to the writing on it. She was older than me, probably a third year, but nowhere near old enough to be a teacher.

"Do not touch the Prince's belongings." The rest of the girls answered her. There were only girls, no boys, in the room, I noticed. What were they doing? Was this some sort of club? Who was this Prince they were talking about?

"Repeat: Do not talk to the Prince unless accompanied by at least two other members." The chorus of voices repeated their leader's statement. I knocked on the door tentatively. The leader turned around sharply.

"Oh, good, not a teacher. Well, hello there, how are you? What's your name?" She said pleasantly enough before a thought occurred to her. Her eyes narrowed. "You're not a friend of Tohru Honda's, are you?"

She looked menacing. "Uh, no. I don't know who that is. My name is Mizuki. I'm actually a new student here, and I was wondering what, uh, what this club is exactly?" I could feel enough tension in the air that I knew without reading her that she was jealous of this Tohru girl.

"We are the Prince Yuki Fan Club." Three of the girls stood up and did an elaborate dance sequence stating how much they loved him. "And we always welcome new recruits." _Huh. This Yuki guy must be pretty good-looking to actually twist normal-looking girls into making a fan club for him- Wait. Prince _Yuki?_ As in the zodiac rat?_ I knew that name. Kyo and Haru had both talked about him back then, up in the mountains. Kyo had hated him with a vengeance, but Haru had adored him, and these fan girls seemed to agree.

As the leader chattered on and on about Yuki's "silky grey hair" and "startlingly intense violet eyes" I decided to meet him. He could tell me about the Sohmas, if he was the Yuki I was looking for. "What's his last name?" I asked, cutting through the older girl's rambles.

"Sohma, of course." She looked at me. "Don't tell me you've never met him before! He truly is a sight to see. In fact, why don't you go see him now? He's at an early student council meeting. His devotion to the school is _so_ romantic." She pointed at a girl with short brown pigtails. "Miname, you take her! Just make sure not to let him see you!"

I was beginning to see that these girls weren't as normal as they looked. This "fan club" seemed more stalkerish by the minute. Did they even realize that they couldn't all be his girlfriends? Maybe the reason the leader had felt so jealous of that Tohru girl was that she was Yuki's-

"Hello, Earth to Mizuki. I just asked you a question!" The girl dragging me through the halls, Miname, pouted. Her voice had an annoying, high-strung quality to it that gave me an intense feeling of dislike.

"What was it? I'm sorry, sometimes I get lost in thought."

"That's okay. President Motoko sometimes does that too." She appeared mollified. "I was just asking about your hair. Is it natural? The color, I mean."

I had been asked this often enough that I knew saying it wasn't would just lead to more questions. "Yeah, weird, right? But it is natural." I hoped she wouldn't ask any more questions.

"It's not that interesting. There's another guy here, a year younger that me, with black and white hair too." She said, clearly displeased that my unique hair wasn't dyed. _Wait. Was she kidding?_ There aren't that many people out there that have hair with two different colors. In fact, I could only think of one other person…

"Okay, we're here!" She squealed suddenly, jerking my arm painfully to get me to stop. "This is the student council conference room. Yuki's in there." I started towards the door but she yanked me back quickly. "Just look. Don't let him see you! Prince Yuki's the one with the _gorgeous _silver hair and the _breathtaking _lavender eyes." Ha. His long, messy, hair was closer to grey than silver, but his eyes were pretty intense.

Well, looking at this guy might have been enough for the stalker girls in the fan club, but I needed to speak to him. I stood up and walked to the door, ignoring Miname's protests. Before I could open it, a good-looking guy with dark hair, probably a second-year, pulled it open for me.

"Hey, I'm Kakeru, vice president of the campus defense force, which is holding a _private _meeting. Can I help you with something?" His words were mild, but I could tell from his tone that he was interested. I sighed inwardly. At least I knew how to deal with guys like him.

I straightened up; half lowered my eyelids, lifted the corner of my mouth in my infamous half-smile, and purred seductively, "I don't know. Can you?" Miname gasped in shock at my blatant flirting with an older, more popular guy.

"Well, uh, that is, uh, what, what would you like help with?" Kakeru stuttered, but I had already swept past him. Honestly, I had thought that it would take more to infiltrate the meeting of the "Campus Defense Force".

"Kakeru, you shouldn't flirt with first years. It'll just blow up in your face." A pretty black-haired girl stood up and looked at me. "Hi. I'm Kimi. Oh, you're so pretty! Are you trying to follow in my footsteps and be the next Enchantress?" She hugged me.

"Uh, no-"

Another boy stood up. I was surprised at how short he was. "I'm Nao. Would you mind telling us why you're here? This is, after all, a _private_ meeting."

"I need to speak with Yuki Sohma. _Privately._" I pointed at him.

"I'm sorry. Yuki is involved in a meeting right now and he cannot speak with you," said Nao.

"Fine." I had anticipated this. "Well, at least let me introduce myself." I turned toward him. "I'm Mizuki. Nice to meet you."

His purple eyes stared into my multicolored ones, searching for an explanation. "I'm Yuki Sohma. Nice to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I pulled him into a close hug. Taken by surprise, he couldn't do anything but gasp, probably waiting for the POOF! that would transform him into a rat.

"Whoo! You go girl! Taking the initiative!" Shouted Kakeru. I blushed and let go of him. The Prince stumbled back and fell, which surprised me: he didn't seem like the type that would lose his composure. He looked at himself with surprise, as if being a human was the strangest thing in the world. I offered him a hand up. When he took it, I pulled him close.

"Sure you don't want to talk? It would explain a lot." I whispered in his ear. I let him go and stepped back. Silver and black eyes met deep violet ones, and this time a flash of understanding passed between them. He nodded once, slowly, then turned back to the rest of the student council, who were trying to understand what had just happened.

"I'm going to go talk to Miss Mizuki for a while. Kakeru, you take my place in the discussion."

"Thanks, Yun-yun! I'm so happy that you chose me to be your successor-"

"No, wait. Machi, you do it." The girl nodded and Kakeru looked disappointed.

I led him out of the room and into an empty classroom. "Okay. So you want to know why you didn't transform when I hugged you, right?"

"Not exactly. How did you know about the zodiac curse in the first place?"

"Good question. I can sense people's other forms, if you can understand that. Normal people only have one other form, their true form: pretty much what animal or being that their identity represents. Once, I met someone with three other forms. I found out that one was his true form, one was his zodiac form, and one was… something else entirely." He seemed to understand what I was saying. I glanced at my watch. We had about ten minutes until school really started. Though I could still ask the blond boy about the people I was looking for, I had a feeling that Yuki was a more reliable source.

"Okay. My turn. Since you're a Sohma, do you know where three other Sohmas might be? Their names are Kyo, Hatsuharu, and Kisa. They're all members of the zodiac."

"Kyo lives with me, the dog of the zodiac, and a girl who knows the curse, Tohru Honda." No wonder the fan girls had been jealous of this Tohru girl, she actually lived with the Prince. "Hatsuharu and Kisa live at the main estate."

"I thought Kyo and Hatsuharu went to this school. What classes are they in?"

"Kyo is in my class, 2-D, but he's out sick today. Hatsuharu is in class 1-C." 1-C was my class. I could talk to him there.

"And would you happen to know the name of a cute blond boy, same age as me, the zodiac bunny?" I'd felt bad just thinking of the kid as "the blond boy".

"Yes. That would be Momiji Sohma." He opened his mouth, probably to ask me a question now that mine were out of the way, but I stopped him.

"I should probably get back to class, and you should get back to your meeting before school starts." I said, pointing at the clock. I started to head out the door, but Yuki pulled me back.

"Wait! Why didn't I transform when you hugged me? And how do you know Kyo and Hatsuharu?"

"Not now. I'll answer your questions later. You said you live with Kyo, right? Invite me over for dinner at your house! Then I can see Kyo and also answer your questions!"

"Alright. That sounds like it should work." He got up to go back to the student council room but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Well? Aren't you going to invite me? I can't just invite myself over, you know."

"Oh, yes, well, would you like to come over to my house to have dinner?" He was blushing furiously. He sounded like he was asking me to marry him.

"You really have to improve your technique, you know. It sounds like you've never asked a girl out before!" I giggled.

"I suppose I haven't, really." He smiled self-consciously. I liked that. He looked nice when he smiled, even if he was embarrassed.

"I guess I'll take you up on your offer then. I'll meet you after school." I bent over and kissed him on the cheek. By now he was scarlet, and probably on the verge of transforming into a rat from his chagrin. "Well, bye! See you later!" I waved.

I walked out of the classroom and into the hallway. There were still a few minutes until the bell rang, but already, people were streaming into the hall. I was about to turn into my classroom when I heard someone whisper to me.

"_Psst. Come over here quick_." Huh? Where did that come from?

I ducked into the classroom that the voice had seemed to come from- only to find myself face-to-face with four murderous fan girls. Their president, Motoko, walked slowly towards me, her eyes piercing me like laser beams.

Her voice sounded deceptively calm and sweet, but every undertone rang with a terrible hatred. "Mizuki," she said, "did you just kiss Prince Yuki?"

**Well, there you have it! Chapter two. Reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	3. Oddities

Oddities

**Chapter three! Yay!**

**The first part is just Miname telling how she saw the events that happened. I wrote it because it was fun to write, so I hope it will also be fun to read. If it's boring, you can just skip to the part where it says Mizuki's POV. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fruit's Basket, just Mizuki.**

**Miname (the fangirl)'s POV**

_Oh, Prince Yuki Sohma. You look truly angelic, even in the backdrop of the drab student council room. Your illuminating beauty shines, and the world is dark in comparison. If only I could be so close to you that I could stare deep, deep, into the lavender depths of your picturesque eyes, and you would gaze back so raptly into mine. If only I could touch your silver hair, and feel its silky softness between my fingers. If only you were to pull me close, our lips would meet and-_

"Mizuki, get back here!" I hissed. How dare she interrupt the vice president of the Prince Yuki Fan Club's fantasy by strolling over to the door of the student council room and preparing to open it! She was about to talk to the Prince, and she wasn't even a member of the club yet! "Come back!"

She paid me no attention and was about to open the door when Kakeru pulled it open instead. I had always had the tiniest crush on the tall, handsome boy- second, of course, to my love for Prince Yuki.

"Hey, I'm Kakeru, vice president of the campus defense force, which is holding a _private _meeting. Can I help you with something?" Good. Letting her into the meeting would have been a disaster.

She looked up at him seductively. "I don't know. Can you?" Her voice was suggestive. _Ha, ha. Yeah right. Like_ Kakeru_ would ever fall for that crap-_

"Well, uh, that is, uh, what, what would you like help with?" _What the-? What was that?_ Mizuki was undoubtedly quite beautiful, but to reduce _Kakeru _to stuttering? I gasped loudly. She must have put a spell on him! Not even a love spell, she must have used magic to tie his tongue in knots! This witch was worse than Tohru Honda! I had to stop her. It was my duty as the Fan Club's vice president: and my duty to Yuki.

Before I could do anything however, she walked into the room, ignoring the stammering Kakeru, who shut the door behind him. _What? Had he not even noticed me?_ All I could do was wait outside the door: when Kakeru had closed it, the tiny click I heard told me it was the self-locking type.

I looked in the window, being careful not to be seen- I had already suffered enough humiliation being affiliated with that _witch_ by Kakeru. The Enchantress, Kimi, infamous for her ways with men, was hugging Mizuki, probably showing affection to her fellow witch. Mizuki and a shorter boy talked for a minute but then, Prince Yuki stood up and walked over to her.

My heart jumped with hatred at her despicable nature. She had called the Prince over like a dog, and he had followed the order, I realized, due to the fact that the witch had jinxed him to move forward. She spoke to him, and when he tried to answer, she hugged him.

No. No. This was not happening. We all knew the tales of those who had tried to embrace the Prince: one had been pushed away forcefully; another's head had been clapped between his hands… We all, after that, had respected his wishes and given him space. But this girl… It was awful. The spell she had cast had prevented him from defending himself. He was in danger.

I turned and ran. I had to find Motoko and the others. We would break down the door if we had to. We must save our prince!

Finally, I got to the classroom, where the club was discussing the preparations for the presidential election.

"There you are, we've been waiting for you!" Motoko said. "What took you so long? And where's Mizuki?"

"Come on. We have to help him." I pleaded.

"Who? Prince Yuki? What happened?" I told Motoko and the others the story as fast as I could. When I told them about the terrible cursed embrace, the room fell silent as Motoko's eyes burned with fury.

"Miname. Number one. Number two. Come on. We will find our Prince and the witch who has cursed him. We will fight her. And through our love for Yuki, we shall prevail!"

"We shall prevail!" The club repeated their motto and cheered on us four girls. I followed Motoko to the student council room but neither Yuki nor the witch remained there.

"There! In that classroom. Her and Yuki."

"Good work, number one." Motoko thought for a minute. "We can't risk her holding Yuki hostage. We'll look at them through the window and listen to them to see if we can find out what she has in store for us. Then, when she's alone, we'll ask her why she's doing this. Remember: we'll try to solve the matter peacefully. But if things get ugly…" She looked at us. We nodded in unison. We all knew what she meant. We'd do anything to protect our Prince.

"Hey! I can hear what they're saying!" It was faint, but I could make out their voices.

"Hey, me too!"

"So can I."

"Shush, number two. We can all hear it."

Mizuki's voice seeped though the wall. "Well? Aren't you going to invite me? I can't just invite myself over, you know."

"Oh, yes, well, would you like to come over to my house to have dinner?" Prince Yuki was asking _her _out on a date? He seemed flustered. No way. The elegant, always _so_ regal Prince Yuki I knew and loved didn't know the meaning of the word. What kind of spell was this anyway? I stood up, ready to bust down the door.

"No. Not yet." Mygotou (number two) held me back. "We'll have our chance."

"You really have to improve your technique, you know. It sounds like you've never asked a girl out before!" Mizuki giggled through the door. How dare she ridicule him! What did she know of his private life! In my fury, I didn't hear the next thing Yuki said.

Mizuki smiled at his blush. "I guess I'll take you up on your offer then. I'll meet you after school." And then she leaned over and did something so horrible that I could barely comprehend it. She kissed him on the cheek.

Motoko looked homicidal, but she held her temper in for the moment. She dragged the three of us away from the scene of the witch's horrible crime into an empty classroom. As the witch passed by, Motoko whispered, "_Psst. Come over here quick._"

When the witch ducked into the room, all she could do was look up at our Fan Club president in shock. Motoko stepped toward her. "Mizuki, did you just kiss Prince Yuki?" I smiled. Justice was about to be served.

…

**Mizuki's POV**

"How dare you put our Prince Yuki under a spell!" I had been listening to this for a while now. I was just glad they hadn't resorted to violence yet: they looked like they were ready to beat me into a pulp. _Not that they could if they tried. _My years of martial arts training definitely weren't for nothing.

"I didn't." I responded tiredly. I really needed to get back to class. I didn't want to be late on my second day of school, and I wanted to see Haru again. That was the whole reason that I came to this school- to see my friends again, not to be chewed out by a couple of stalkers in uniforms.

"Yes, you did! You're a witch! You're not wearing a uniform. Are you even enrolled in this school? You come here, and before you've even been here two days, you try to seduce our Prince! You're despicable." Yeah, says the third year to the new first year for not wanting to be a part of their stalker fan club.

"I didn't try to seduce him-"

"Who's helping you, anyway? Is it Tohru Honda? Or is it the denpa wave girl?" Motoko leaned in closer. I felt like I was being interrogated for murdering someone. "Tell me right now or-"

"I'll electrocute you." A new voice rang out. Unlike the fan girls', her voice was strong, yet melodic, with a hint of anger. When the four girls saw who had come in the classroom so suddenly, they leapt back in alarm. There stood a mysterious looking, yet oddly striking girl, her long, black hair flowing around her, and her dark violet eyes glowing next to her ivory skin.

She looked at me. "What are you doing," she said to them, "picking on a first year? Have you no shame? At least wait until you see a real witch until you accuse someone of being one." The room flashed blue for a second as electricity sparked in the air, forming jagged patterns that threw the four fan club girls' terrified expressions into sharp relief.

She offered a hand to where I was sitting on the classroom floor. I took it. Despite her frightening show of power, she seemed to be the type of person I could trust. Besides, she had saved me from the other girls… I checked my watch and sighed. Not that it had been any use. I was already late. I hadn't heard the bell ring, but my watch told me that school had started five minutes ago. _Well, may as well ask her some questions. Ten minutes late would earn the same scolding as five._

I turned to the dark haired girl as we walked out of the classroom. "Thank you very much, miss…" indicating that she should tell me her name. She looked at me. "What's your name?" I asked bluntly.

"Names are powerful things." Oh. I guess she wasn't going to tell me. "Mine is Hanajima. And yours?" This girl was surprising.

"Mizuki. And, would you mind if I asked…about your control over denpa waves?"

"They can also show me a person's electric signals, which tells me things… For example, you are in possession of incredibly great power, and yet you have a great battle raging at all times within your body, as if there are two people inside you, fighting for control…"

Was she seeing my electric signals-or my mind? I discreetly slipped the bracelet off my left wrist and onto my right. Her thoughts showed themselves to me, but I held back, careful not to delve too deep into her mind for fear of losing control of my own. I told her what I was seeing in her thoughts. "And you, you heard Motoko yelling and thought she talking to a girl… Tohru Honda." There was that name again. Everyone knew her, it seemed. "The two of you are as close as sisters, along with another girl." Wait. Were those my thoughts, mirrored back at me as she saw my mind and I saw hers? "And your denpa wave control gives you the power to see into another's mind."

Hanajima smiled. "It's strange, to see your own thoughts in another's head… But I didn't see them before, so what did you…? Oh, the bracelet." She was right. When the bracelet was on my left hand, it was nothing more than a chain and a charm comprised of a small fortune. But when I put it on my right hand, it gave me the power to see the mind of the person physically closest to me. I tugged it onto my left hand again. Though I used it often enough, it unsettled me to see into another person's mind for too long.

"Well, it has been a pleasure meeting you, Miss Hanajima, and thank you for saving me from those girls," I bowed quickly, "but I really must be going. I'm quite late, and this is only my second day at this school." I turned to walk to my class, but she stopped me.

"Wait. Before you go, let me tell you, I hope we meet again. You are quite mysterious, and I wish to know more about these strange powers of yours, such as how you are shielding your mind from me at the moment." She was right again. I had put up mental barriers in order to keep her from reading me. "There are also some people you should meet. They are the Sohmas. They are good people, but as mysterious as you. Their electric signals are strange, though not as powerful as yours. I think you would find them rather… interesting."

I smiled. "I met the Sohmas a long time ago, but they have never run me dry of questions to ask. Goodbye, Hanajima."

"Goodbye, Mizuki. Pleasant waves."

Though my meeting with her had been strange, I found myself thinking about it as I walked to class. She, too, had mentioned the Sohmas… _What was her relationship to them? Why had she told me about them?_ And that name, Tohru Honda. She seemed to be on everyone's mind- the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls had hated her, Yuki had said he lived with her, and Hanajima was her friend. _Maybe I'll see her when I go over to Yuki's house._

"Miss Mizuki? You're late." The teacher snapped as I walked into the class.

"I apologize. I was detained by a certain angry fan club and a girl who creates electric waves." I said in my best courteous voice. The class snickered.

The teacher rapped her ruler on the desk. "That's enough of that! No more excuses, Miss Mizuki, take your seat." As I sat, she muttered something like, "Kids these days."

I scanned the room for Haru. Yuki had said he was in this class, my class, but I didn't see him. Maybe he went to the bathroom or something. As I looked around, I noticed a few guys checking me out. I wasn't surprised. Since last year, I'd gotten used to people being attracted to my uncommon beauty. Flirting with them, at least, would be something to do, but it was the middle of class and I didn't want the teacher to snap at me again.

_Well, this is fun._ It had been one wild goose chase after another trying to track down the elusive Sohmas, not to mention the fact that it was sucha common name in Japan. And now, the one time I was getting some answers, I was stuck in a high school class, listening to a teacher drone on and on-

"Miss Mizuki? Are you listening?" The teacher peered at me over her purple-rimmed glasses. "Well?" _Damn_. She asked me a question and clearly wasn't going to repeat it. I squinted at the equation on the board. It was easy enough.

"The answer is x=67.25." I smiled; sure I had gotten it right.

She sighed. "Correct, Mizuki, but what I asked was for you to go down to the main office and get yourself a uniform, because you seem to be lacking one."

I fought to keep my blush down. I had hoped no one would notice, at least for today. I stood and walked over to the door. Before I could open it, for the second time, someone else pushed it open first.

This time, though, it hit me forcefully in the face. Whoever did it must have been pretty strong, because my knees buckled and I fell forward. I tried to stop the fall with my arms, but instead, they crossed and I hit the ground anyway. Wait. My arms crossed? Oh, crap. Not good. The Yin and Yang tattoos on my wrists touched for the briefest of seconds.

"Sorry. Are you okay?" I heard a familiar male voice ask before BANG! A huge explosion rocked the entire classroom and filled it with thick black smoke. I looked at myself. _Yep, it happened again._ I had transformed into my current spirit form, the fox.

The class was panicking. I heard cries of, "What happened?" and "Mizuki exploded!". Though my transformation into the fox was one thousand times more dramatic than any zodiac members', the smoke would eventually clear away, and the people in the class would wonder why I was gone, why my clothes were in a heap on the floor, and why there was a random fox running around. I decided to hide somewhere.

The one problem? The bang on the head I had gotten as a human was much worse as a fox. I winced (as much as my animal face could) as my head was pierced by a searing jab of pain. It came again and again. The room went fuzzy around me and the edges of my vision turned black. I offered one last prayer –_Please, please don't let anyone see me!_ – Before I succumbed to the darkness and passed out.

**Review, please! Constructive criticism is good too, just no flames.**


	4. The Fox

The Fox

**Chapter four. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The only things I own are Mizuki and the plot.**

**Hatsuharu's POV**

I was more than pissed. I'd only beat up that guy because he'd called Momiji immature for wearing the girl's uniform, and yet _I_ was the one that had been called to the office to talk about my "bad attitude". Seriously, how was I supposed to "control my actions" when I went black? I hardly even knew what I was doing. I guess I shouldn't have gotten so annoyed at the guy anyway. But still, Hatori always gives me lectures on controlling my black side, so why did I have to listen when the school gives them?

I shoved open the door to the classroom forcefully. Instead of opening, the door hit something –someone- on the other side with a dull _thud_. _Crap, I hit someone with a door._ This was definitely going on my rap sheet at the school.

"Sorry. Are you okay?" I barely saw the image of a (blonde, or even…white-haired?) girl fallen on the ground when, with a loud bang, the classroom erupted in thick, billowing sheets of black smoke.

"What happened?" I heard Momiji ask.

"Mizuki exploded!" Called another classmate. Mizuki was the one I'd hit with the door? Things seriously were not looking up for me today.

"Haru! Haru! What happened, Haru?" I made out the shape of Momiji bounding toward me through the smoke.

"I don't know." I said.

"Did you transform, Haru? Because you opened the door while Mizuki was there and then there was a bunch of smoke!"

"No. Look at me. I'm still human. And our transformations don't cause that much smoke."

"Where'd Mizuki go then?" I looked at him confused, but then saw him holding up a bundle of clothes that presumably belonged to her. Under it was what looked like a dead, grey colored fox.

"Do you think she transformed…?" Momiji looked amazed that someone outside of the zodiac could turn into an animal. "We have to help her! I think she's non-conscious." He said, looking up at me.

"The word is unconscious." The smoke was starting to clear away. "Okay, if you really want to help, we should get her out of here. You pick up the clothes, and I'll pick up the fox."

"'Kay," he said happily, gathering her clothes. "She has a lot of jewelry." He held one necklace up. "Hey Haru! This looks like something you'd wear!" The piece of jewelry in question was a simple black leather choker with a Yin Yang charm at its center. I had given that necklace to Mizuki- the old Mizuki. Here was my proof that this was the girl I'd known more than a year ago.

"Let's get out of here." The smoke was almost totally gone, and if someone saw us toting around a dead-looking fox and a girl's clothes, they were bound to ask about it. "We should find Yuki and see if we can take her to Sensei's (Shigure's) house."

"Why can't we take her to the main house to see Ha'ri?"

"She's a human who turns into an animal, and she knows about the curse. We don't want to risk Akito seeing her." Momiji nodded, uncharacteristic seriousness in his eyes. We both knew that Akito would be furious were he to find out that yet another non-Sohma had found out about the curse, and that the person also turned into an animal.

I quickly shrugged off my jacket and wrapped the fox in it, noticing that her sleek fur wasn't exactly gray-it was more of a pale silver color. Her body was long and lithe even as a fox, and I couldn't keep from wondering about how she'd changed. I'd only caught a few glimpses of her-when I saw her bump into Momiji after school yesterday, and when I accidentally hit her with the door. And her changes weren't just the color of her hair and eyes. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something else about her was different.

Not only that, but she could turn into a fox now. I hadn't hugged her, and I don't think some other guy had, so she must have transformed because of the stress of the concussion. But then again, there was no fox in the Chinese zodiac, so the transformation may have been triggered by something else.

I walked, trying to be inconspicuous, down the hallway, with Momiji bounding after me. In a room to my left, I could see Yuki sitting at a desk, taking notes while a few girls in the back of the room took pictures of him with a camera. I pushed, open the door, not caring what the teacher thought.

"Yuki, I need to talk to you outside. I have…a problem." I said, motioning to the wrapped-up jacket in my arms. He seemed to understand what I meant.

"Can Tohru come too?" I noticed the brown-haired girl looking anxious next to Yuki and nodded. Tohru was always kind and accepting in weird situations like this.

Yuki, ever polite, turned toward the teacher. "Would you mind if Miss Honda and I left the class for a bit? My cousin has something very important to discuss with us."

"Fine, just make it quick." He waved the two of them off. They walked out of the classroom and joined Momiji and me in a more secluded hallway.

"Is that Kisa? Did she get bullied and run away again?" Yuki asked, worried. I could see why he thought that: the last time I had come up to the two of them with a human-turned-animal, it had been that exact situation.

"No. It's-" I started.

"It's Mizuki!" Momiji exclaimed happily. Yuki looked shocked for some reason.

"The new girl in your class? I thought she wasn't a member of the zodiac!" Tohru looked fascinated. "Can I see her?"

"She's not a member of the zodiac. I don't know what happened, but when I came into the classroom, there was an explosion or something and a bunch of smoke came out from nowhere. And…I found her on the ground, unconscious." I uncovered the jacket to show Tohru and Yuki Mizuki. Tohru gasped in appreciation and tentatively stuck out her hand to the silver-furred fox's head. When met with no resistance, the girl petted her.

"Aw, she's so cute!" Momiji squealed. "Can I pet her next? Please?"

"We should actually get her somewhere where she can get medical attention. Do you think we can take her to Sensei's house?" I asked Yuki.

"Yes. We can call Hatori. It'd be a bad idea to take her to the main house right now…" Yuki trailed off. "If this is because of a curse like ours, she probably won't turn back until she wakes up, so you can just take her over to Shigure's house."

"I'll come too! I don't want Haru getting lost!" Momiji exclaimed.

"I'll go with you guys too!" Tohru said, a determined expression on her face. "Mom told me that I should always help people when they are in need!"

"I suppose I'll go too then." Yuki sighed. "I talked to Miss Mizuki earlier, and she was already going to come over to Shigure's house later in the day anyway."

The four of us walked out of the school, luckily not meeting any teachers on the way. I held Mizuki in my coat as we jogged to Sensei's house, which I would have gotten lost on the way to at least three times if Yuki or Momiji hadn't pointed it out.

We walked in the door to see him sitting calmly in a chair as his editor stood over him, weeping, begging him to give her the last pages of his manuscript. Tohru looked terrified. Yuki sighed, ran up the stairs, and came back with an envelope of papers, which he promptly handed to the woman. She ran out the door, still sobbing, clutching the bundle of papers.

"Yuki! Why did you have to do that, Yuki? You're even less fun than Hatori!" He looked at us. "Wait. Why are you all here? You're skipping school, aren't you! Following in me and Ayame's footsteps." Then he caught sight of Tohru. "Tohru, why are you skipping out? You never skip!" He glared at us. "These three boys have corrupted my poor, sweet little flower's innocence!"

"Close your mouth, you disgusting dog, until you know what you're talking about!" Yuki growled.

"That's not why we're here!" Momiji said. "We're here because Mizuki is an unconscious fox!" Shigure looked confused

"What do you mean?"

"The new girl, Mizuki, turned into a fox when Haru hit her with a door! There was a lot of smoke! And she was unconscious!" Momiji explained, making no more sense than before.

"Haru, you hit her with a door?" Yuki asked me, seeing as how I had left that part out when I explained.

"It was an accident. The point is, a girl turned into a fox that is not a part of the zodiac, and is unconscious. We need to call Hatori." I said. Shigure seemed to understand one part of what I said.

"She turned into a fox?" His expression darkened. His voice contained none of the playfulness it had before. "May I see her?" I tugged my jacket off the unconscious fox and held her out to him.

"How adorable! And she's probably even cuter when she's in her human form-a high school girl!" Shigure quipped, his tone regaining its light cheerfulness. Yuki opened his mouth to berate the perverted dog, but Momiji spoke first.

"You're right! She's really pretty. Her hair is long and white and black, and her eyes are grey and black! All my friends say she's the cutest girl at the school! And when she goes in the classroom, all the boys go quiet and look at her. And Aaya told me once that that means that the boy 'likes what he sees'!"

The room went silent for a minute.

"Is that so?" Shigure mused. "Well, Momiji, if you say so. Maybe when she wakes up, I'll see for my-" He was cut off by a vicious kick from Yuki.

"Disgusting dog." Yuki turned to the rest of us. "Did anyone bother to pick up Miss Mizuki's clothes? She'll need them once she transforms back."

"Oh, I did! But…they're kind of dirty." That was an understatement. Momiji had been splashing in puddles while they walked to the house, and he had dropped the clothes in more than once.

"Oh, that's okay! I can put them in the laundry for her! I'll just let her borrow something of mine until they come out!" Tohru said, happy to be of help to this girl she didn't even know.

"Okay!" Momiji handed her the small bundle of clothes. "Just be careful you don't put her jewelry in the washing machine! She has a lot, you know."

"How pretty!" Tohru exclaimed, holding one piece up to the light. Bands of silver, gold, and diamond were braided together to form a stiff bracelet, which was closed by a Yin Yang charm of silver and gold, the gold engraved to look like the sun and the silver, like the moon.

Shigure whistled. "That must have cost millions." **(We're talking Yen here, not dollars).**

Yuki took charge again. "Haru, would you mind bringing Miss Mizuki to Miss Honda's room and putting her on the bed? She should have a bed to sleep on when she transforms back. That is, if you don't mind, Miss Honda?" Tohru shook her head. "Alright then, I'll call Hatori."

I carried the pale silver fox to Tohru's room and laid it on the bed. The form of the animal looked out of place in the vast pinkness of the blankets.

I was half worried about Mizuki's concussion, but I was half relieved. I didn't know what I'd say to her when she woke up.

…

**Mizuki's POV (flashback/dream)**

_I came home that day with a bloody nose and a bruise on my cheek. My parents knew what had happened. I had gotten in fights at school before._

"_Mizu-chan. You know I'm proud that you can stand up for yourself and hold your own in a fight, but you have to learn to take better care of yourself. Those kids didn't stand a chance against you, but someday, you're going to find yourself in a fight that you can't win." My father was sincere. He spoke from the heart. I felt bad for letting him down and hung my head._

"_What your otou-san means is that the two of us lost you, we wouldn't know what to do. You're our little angel. Someday, you might be the one who makes the world go round. We love you too much to let you get hurt like this." She gently cleaned the bruise._

"_But," I sniffed, "they said that I was an ugly foreigner because I have red hair and green eyes. They said that having red hair made you stupid!" I was crying now._

"_They teased you about how you look again?" My mother's eyes were full of pity. "I'm sorry that you have to listen to them. But let me tell you something. You are the most beautiful child in the world. Your hair and eyes make you look unique and special, not ugly or foreign. They're just jealous that they couldn't be as pretty and cute as you are."_

"_Yeah," said my father, "they're just jealous. Someday you're going to be a fashion model or something and they'll all be embarrassed that they picked on you."_

_I smiled. My parents- they were always there for me. By my side, protecting me. As long as I had them, it would be all right._

_I should have known it wouldn't last forever…_

**Reviews are loved, so put them up!**


	5. Wake Up

Wake Up

**I noticed my chapters are a little short. They're all going to be about four pages, so…yeah.**

**I forgot to mention this earlier, but this story takes place after the ANIME, about a month or two before summer break.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.**

**Mizuki's POV**

I could see a white light at the end of a tunnel. I was walking toward it, feeling my worries and memories melt away, flapping into the breeze as I embraced death…

Not really. It was going to take more than a hit on the head with a door and a spirit-form transformation to finish me off. But I could remember my consciousness drifting away. How long had I been in a concussion, or whatever? I tried to lift my arms but they had somehow been injected with lead or something, because the darn things were heavier than the _Titanic._ I attempted to move my eyelids, but the results were the same.

I was about to freak out. This situation was too much like what'd happened before…except that I couldn't remember what I'd done to get here, or how I'd gotten here. I was about to try again to pry open my eyes and make sure I wasn't in _that_ place again when a voice spoke to me out of the blackness. This was a good sign. Back in _that_ place, voices had never spoken to me. But then again, maybe I was actually going crazy…

"Mizuki-san. I know I don't know you very well, I mean I don't know you at all, because the only time I've ever seen you, you were unconscious. But Yuki-kun talked to you, and he said that you're nice, and you know Hatsuharu-san and Kyo-kun, so you must be a good person to be friends with all of them! And I want to be your friend too, so please, please, wake up." By now the voice was crying, but it still sounded sweet and motherly. I felt compelled to do what the voice asked.

I tried again to open my eyes, but they were still heavy. Then I remembered my power. A person like me shouldn't lie around in bed all day just because of a little bump on her head! I was better than that! My eyes flew open and I took in the scene around me.

I was lying under the covers of a large pink bed in my human form in what was obviously a girl's room. A short brunette sat on a stool next to the bed with her head in her hands, presumably the girl who had spoken to me earlier. I rolled my shoulders and then folded my legs, happy that I could move normally again.

The girl, still crying softly, had obviously not noticed my movements. I cleared my throat and waved my hand in front of her face.

"I'm awake. And if you don't mind me asking, where am I?" The girl raised her head and gasped when she saw me sitting there. Her eyes were pretty, a deep teal-blue color.

"Mizuki-san! I'm so glad you're awake! Ah…you turned into a fox, and then you got a concussion, so Hatsuharu-san, Momiji-kun, Yuki-kun and I took you back here so you'd be safe. Oh, and I'm Tohru Honda. It's very nice to meet you!" She bowed several times. Ah, so this was the Tohru I'd heard about. She seemed like a very sweet person. I wondered why the rabid fan girls had disliked her so much.

"The pleasure's all mine. Thank you for bringing me here and taking care of me. I appreciate it. And… Wait. Did you say Haru helped bring me here? Is he still here? Can I talk to him?" I questioned her.

"Gomen! He is not here. Last night, after you didn't transform back or wake up, he went back to the Sohma main house with Hatori-san, a doctor who took care of you. He told me to call him if you woke up." Her eyes widened. "Ah! Gomen! I forgot to call him! I'll go call him right now." She stood up, but I called her back, not wanting to be alone again.

"That's okay. I'll call him later. And there's no need to apologize. I've only been up for a minute!" I smiled at her. She was a very likeable person. She tentatively smiled back.

"I forgot to ask you about your head!" she gasped. "Are you feeling okay? Does your head hurt?"

"No. I feel really good, actually." My eyes narrowed as I remembered something from her earlier explanation. She had said that Haru had left last night after I hadn't woken up. I had passed out in the morning, and by now it was about noon, judging by the sunlight coming in from the windows. "How long was I unconscious?" I asked her, hoping that the answer would be less than a day.

"Oh, well, I guess you fell unconscious yesterday after school started, and now, it's about noon, so, a little more than a day I guess?" I groaned. Where was I, anyway? If I'd been spending the past day in some stranger's house, I'd be pretty freaked out, even if Haru had brought me here. I realized that when she had told me the list of people who brought me here as I fox, they had all been Sohmas- except for this girl.

"Where am I exactly- some kind of Sohma compound? And then why are you here? You're not a Sohma, are you? No offence, " I said, hoping she hadn't taken the rather insensitive comment seriously.

"No, that's okay. I'm friends with the Sohma family, and they let me stay here in return for doing the housework!" She smiled brightly. "And you're right, this is a Sohma compound outside of the Main House. Shigure-san owns it, and Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun also live here."

I bolted upright in bed. Kyo lived here? I had to talk to him, to see him again! He was the whole reason I'd come here in the first place, along with Shishou, Haru, and Kisa. I'd met them more than a year ago, and I had told them that I would never be able to see them again. But now that I had a chance, I was determined to come back and be with the four of them. After all, they had been my only "family" after what happened.

"Where is Kyo? Can I see him? It's really urgent!" I pleaded Tohru.

"Gomen, Mizuki-san! I'm sorry, but Kyo-kun is sleeping right now. He came down with a cold yesterday and it hasn't quite gone away yet," she told me. _Damn._ I was so close to seeing him, but again, something was in my way. "And Mizuki-san, you should lie down! Hatori-san said it would be best for you to rest here for a couple of days. Unless your family would like to take care of you instead?" she asked tentatively. I bit my lip. Family was still a sore subject for me.

"That's okay. I'm staying in a hotel room right now. The only family I really have is the Sohmas…" I trailed off, wondering how she would respond to my odd statement. She simply nodded like she knew what I was talking about. _Well, maybe she does,_ I thought to myself. She wasn't a Sohma, but she was staying with one anyway. She might be an orphan or something. "Tohru-" I was about to ask her more about her situation when I cut myself off, remembering how much I'd hated it when someone asked me about my family.

"Yes, Mizuki-san?" she said, expecting another question. I remembered something she said earlier that hadn't roused my interest at the time, but now I was surprised I hadn't noticed it then.

"You said that a doctor named Hatori took care of me when I was still a fox. Is he a veterinarian or something? Or-does he know about how I can become a fox?" I said. A normal girl living with three male Sohmas- she had to know about the curse. And if she did, she would know how important it was that the curse be kept a secret from outsiders.

"Hatori-san knows about you and the fox: we explained it to him." Then she saw the look on my face. "But don't worry! Hatori-san is the Sohma family doctor, and he actually has a curse quite similar to yours, I think. In fact, 12 others in the Sohma family have the same curse as him too. He won't tell anyone!" It occurred to me that she might not know that I already knew about the zodiac curse.

"If you mean the fact that the members of the Sohma family are possessed by the 13 vengeful spirits of the zodiac animals, I already knew that." She looked stunned. "So what animal is Hatori?" I asked her, hoping to steer her away from questions about how I knew and the like.

"Gomen," Tohru sighed, "Hatori-san is embarrassed with his zodiac animal, and so he doesn't want anyone to tell." I was taken aback. _There aren't really any embarrassing zodiac animals, are there? Maybe he's the sheep and he turns into a really cute lamb or something…_

I looked at the pink bedspread, wondering, when I noticed that the bedspread wasn't totally pink. There were many long white rips in the comforter and the stuffing was coming out of them a bit. "Did I do that? As I fox, I mean," I asked Tohru, hoping I hadn't ruined her bed.

"Yes, but it's okay! I'll just get some new blankets once I get my next paycheck. There's no need to worry! I'll just work extra hard!" Not only was this girl the housekeeper for three men, she had a job? _She must be exhausted, _I thought.

"No way. I'll pay for it." She protested, saying that it was her fault that she put me on the bed and she couldn't make me pay for something I hadn't known I was doing. "And there's no use arguing with me, I'm pretty stubborn," I told her.

At that point, a new person entered the room. "Miss Honda, would you like some tea- Miss Mizuki! You're awake!" said the boy I'd talked to earlier, Yuki Sohma.

"Why, I suppose I am!" I told him sarcastically, smiling brightly so he wouldn't think I was mad at him or something. He blushed, but I wasn't surprised. My smile usually did that to people.

"Mizuki-san, you have such a cute smile!" Tohru gushed, beaming as well.

"Thanks," I said, "but do you think that I could get out of this bed for a little? I really appreciate your hospitality, but I'm not the type who lies around in bed all day, even if I've just woken up from a coma." I laughed, flipped my hair, and turned the full force of my "million watt" (as someone had once called it) smile to her.

Unfortunately, she was a girl, so it didn't work as well as it would have with, say, a boy.

"I don't know," she said, musing over my suggestion. "Hatori-san said that you should stay in bed for at least a few hours after you woke up…"

"If you're sure you're alright, Miss Mizuki, I suppose I couldn't hurt to let you let you at least get out of bed for a little bit, right, Miss Honda?" Yuki said, obviously affected by my cutesy laugh.

"I just think…that you should stay in bed for a while longer…" Tohru looked almost embarrassed.

"That's okay, I really am fine." I pushed off the covers and stood up. In unison, Yuki and Tohru gasped, their cheeks turning red, and looked at the ground.

"What?" I said, looking at myself. I was wearing a dress obviously meant for someone with a very different body type. The fabric was just tight enough over my chest and hips to make _me_ blush. At least the length was all right. "Uh, where are my clothes?" I asked Tohru.

Her eyes still turned toward the ground, she told me, "I put them in the laundry but-"

"Great. I'll go get them," I said, eager to get out of the awkward dress. I headed toward the door, but Yuki, who stood in front of it, blocked my progress.

"I apologize, Miss Mizuki, but you can't go out there, wearing that dress, while Shigure is out prowling around. I'll go get your clothes for you, okay?" Huh, why not? Unless… was this Shigure was some kind of pervert or something? It seemed unlikely, but I didn't know what to expect from the Sohma family. I nodded at him gratefully.

"Wait!" said Tohru, waving her arms around. "I'm very, very sorry, Mizuki-san, but when I put your clothes in the laundry, I didn't see that you had a small penknife in your pocket, so I accidentally washed it with your clothes. They got all cut up. Gomen nasai! When you woke up, I put you in some of my clothes." I wasn't too upset. At least now she and I were even.

"It's okay," I said, "but Yuki, can I borrow some of your clothes? I'd feel more comfortable in something…looser."

"Of course," he said, and he ducked out of the room. In a minute he returned and handed me a white shirt with blue ties and a pair of pants. I pushed him and Tohru out of the room and changed into the loose-fitting clothes.

When Yuki and Tohru came back in, I asked them, "Now can I go out? I have to go to the bathroom." I wasn't quite telling the truth, but I was itching to stretch my legs, if only to walk around the house looking for a toilet.

"Sure," said Tohru.

I ducked into the first room I came to, only to find a man in a kimono sitting at a computer. He looked up at me and smirked in an oddly creepy way. I realized as I looked at him that his zodiac form was the dog.

"Hello, I'm Shigure. I assume you're Mizuki? I didn't know you'd woken up." He eyed me again. "It seems Momiji wasn't exaggerating, quite the opposite, in fact. But… what are you wearing?" he said as he took in my strange outfit. "Don't tell me…when you woke up, Yuki _took advantage_ of you? Yuki, you filthy rat!" he yelled upstairs.

"No, no! It wasn't like that at all! I just-" I was interrupted by Yuki's furious entrance. His purple eyes glowed the same way Hanajima's had yesterday. I saw him kick the dog and heard a cracking noise as the wall broke and Shigure landed in the yard.

He turned to me. "I apologize, Miss Mizuki. Shigure is a bit of a pervert at times. And this isn't the bathroom, it's upstairs."

"Okay!" I said, and I jogged up the stairs, again opening the first door that I saw.

It wasn't the bathroom.

On a bed inside sat a tall figure staring up at me in shock. His hair was bright orange and his eyes were an uncommon yet familiar, comforting, shade of red.

"Mizuki…?" He trailed off, seeming to be uncertain about saying my name.

I gaped back at him.

"Kyo-nii-san?"

**So, there it is! I left it at a (kind of) cliffhanger. For those of you who didn't know, onii-san means older brother, so Mizuki is implying that Kyo is her older brother. Also, Gomen means sorry and Gomen nasai means I'm so sorry.**

**OC means original character, right? And OOC means out of character? (I feel dumb asking this.) *Hits self on head for not knowing basic fanfiction terminology***

**Review!**


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